Intro

This is a method and recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver’s here.

Ingredients

• Pork Belly (size based on the number it’s feeding)
• Ground or flaked sea salt
• Olive Oil
• 2 large potatoes
• 4 large carrots
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 medium sized onions
• 1 bottle of white wine
• Gravy granules and stock cubes (optional)

Utensils

• Roasting tin
• Chef’s knife
• Chopping board

Method

Wash the veg, then roughly chop the potatoes into inch thick slices and carrots into 2 – 3 inch lengths. Peel the 4 cloves of garlic and the onions, then chop the onions into quarters. Throw all the veg into your roasting tin.

I can get a cut with the ribs on, but having roasted with or without, I prefer to have the butcher slice them off and I’ll use them in another meal. I also ask the butcher to slice the skin almost all the way off so it cooks on the joint, but is easy to remove for slicing the joint.

If not already done, score the skin without cutting all the way down to the meat. You can score in ribbons or diamonds – it doesn’t influence whether it crackles or not. Rub olive oil into the skin, making sure it gets into the cuts you’ve made. Now, you can either sprinkle salt flakes over the top, or rub in the ground sea salt. This is the ingredient that influences whether the skin hardens into crackling or not. Lay the prepared meat on top of the veg in in the roasting tin.

Preheat your oven to it’s highest temperature, then place the tin into the middle shelf for 15 minutes.

Turn the heat down to 170 C and cook for 90 minutes, then pour in all of the white wine into the tin. Cook for a further hour.

Remove from the oven and place onto the hob. Transfer the joint to a wooden chopping board (it will melt a plastic one), an cover in foil.

Remove the veg and place in a serving dish to accompany your meal.

Add boiling water to the roasting tin, and as per taste add gravy granules and/or stock cubes. Gently heat on the hob until the gravy is thick, then decant into a gravy boat or jug.